Mar 20, 2010

"You're so pretty/handsome to be so dark-skinned!" How many times have you (if dark skinned) have heard that before? Most likely, if you're remotely attractive, you've heard it enough times. Like, is that supposed to be a fucking compliment? Lol! To be honest, I bet many of my dark-skinned brothas and sistas have had issues with their complexion before. When you live in a society infatuated with an accepted type of beauty that does not mirror you, nor fit your idea of what is beautiful, insecurities develop.

I can honestly say when I was younger, I had insecurities being dark brown (anyone who is dark-skinned had the same issue, and if they say they didn't, they're LYING). Not that I thought I was ugly for being dark, but I knew even at 5 years old that something was different about me and that people of a lighter complexion viewed me differently. Now, I'm not very dark, but in my community, I was viewed as "dark enough." I damn sure can't pass the paper bag test, but I wouldn't get lost in a shadow, either. Having brothers and sisters who were all light-skinned and going to a "mixed" (though mostly white) school further created a divide between people like me and "them." So, when I was told "you're handsome young boy to be dark-skinned," it was like, "so, what that's supposed to mean?"

Many would think these are antiquated things of the past from like the 1930s when black soros and frats wouldn't allow dark girls and boys in their clubs because of skin color, but if you even think about how you speak on a daily basis, you'll know how even you fall victim of it. I have a friend (won't say a name) who told me "I'm not gonna go outside too much today. I'm brown-skinned and I don't wanna get too dark." KEEP IN MIND, WE'RE THE SAME COMPLEXION (Honestly, if you're darker than caramel, to me you're dark-skinned). Plus, how many times you dissed someone, calling them "midnight," "black as shit," ""dark butt (shout out to dumbass Yung Berg)," "I'ma beat yo black ass," "black muthafuka," "burple" or any of the common colloquialisms we use to describe dark-skinned people.

When I was in kindergarten, there was a girl named LaCreisha and she was very black....like so black her nose was blue (sorry, I know I know). For real, she was very dark, but she had a beautiful tone to her skin, but because of the environment we as black people grow up in, the black kids (and white kids and white-Latinos) would tease her for her skin color, calling her names like "ConCreisha" (saying she was black like concrete) and such. As I got older, I noticed how mean that was, how I would tease her for being very dark, then I would get teased by caramel and light-skinned people for being dark-brown, and they would get teased by whites for being black.The colorism problem extends to modern day. After researching the subject a bit, there are websites for home remedies to "treat" dark skin and chemical peals to remove this beautiful complexion. As a matter of a fact, rapper Lil' Kim is known for removing the layers of melanin of her skin and recently, her very supportive fanbase at www.lilkimzone.net slammed her for bleaching her skin, in addition to a number of things.

Main thing I want my black brothas and sistas to take from this is this: BE PROUD OF YOUR BLACKNESS. That doesn't mean degrade or impose those same ignorant, racist and colorist ideals from a racist society onto another, but to love yourself in your own skin.

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